He ask me to make him a mousse cake which is a family favourite. Unfortunately come his birthday I was a little unwell and taking medication which really didn’t bode well for creating a cake suitable for a public get-together

So what to do?

We headed out to the local Sara Lee Factory outlet as I’d used their catering sized cakes before, they are of good quality and some do have a very nice flavour.

While there I had an idea.

My son loves Bavarian dessert.

We used Sara Lee Entertainer Bavarians

It’s a kind of biscuit base with chocolate, vanilla or other flavoured pudding kind of mousse filling. Quite often more than one flavour and sometimes has piped fresh cream on the top.

So I grabbed 3 of them (2 to make the main cake ’8′ one as extra serves) and a couple of  classic chocolate Pound cakes to make the ’1′:

We used simple Poundcake

I’m showing the pictures so that you can see what kind of cakes they are, knowing full well how we all have different names for similar cakes worldwide

The beauty of this idea was it only needed to be assembled just before we left so it made for easier storage in the fridge and witht he sweltering and humid weather we’ve had here in Australia this Summer that was quite important!

So when I was ready to assemble the cake I covered a platter with foil. I then sliced about an inch/inch and a half off the bottom of two Bavarian dessert cakes. This allowed them to sit snugly like a figure 8. It’s quite easy to see just by looking how much needs to be removed but the amount will change depending on the size of the cakes.

I then placed them together and covered the join with some melted milk chocolate

I then squared up one end of each of the poundcakes so they sat at a similar height to the number 8.

I coated them in a chocolate ganache style icing made from around 300 grams of dark chocolate (I used a lindt with bitter orange and almond pieces left over from Christmas) and a few buttons of dark cooking chocolate. I broke it into pieces and covered it with pre-boiling cream and let it sit for 5 mins to melt. I then beat it together until smooth and sifted a couple of tablespoons of icing sugar in to help thicken it. I then coated the ’1′ shaped cakes and placed them next to the Bavarian desserts.

I initially was intending to cut the centre of the “8″  circles out but realised quickly with a biscuit/cookie base the cake would lose some integrity so I  made a small amount of melted white chocolate and did my best to form the inside of the 8. I then sprinkled it with coconut to help disguise the lack of precision 

I stuck some ‘Happy birthday” candles in the one so there was no need to pipe or write on the cake at all !

All in all we had an 18th birthday cake that may not of looked professional at all but one that cost less than $25au and served more than 30 people. Also it was guaranteed my son would like the cake as it was made from one of his favourite desserts and I didn’t have to stress over each part of the cake baking and the full decorating.

Served with fresh (and squirty) cream it went down very well.

Very quick 18th birthday cake or dessert

I think with a little thought any circular cake or dessert could be used e.g. Black forest gateaux or Cheesecake and also most numbers could be created. Have a look and see what your local supermarket, grocer or bakery keep in stock I’m sure they will have a few appropriate cakes which can be used last minute to make a number cake.

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#1 Shaped Cake

This charming cake is baked in a standard square or rectangular cake pan, cut into the number one shape and then decorated. Remaining pieces of cake can be decorated for individual serving pieces and this design even includes a 4″x4″ cake — perfect to be served up as a mini-cake to the birthday boy or girl. Let the birthday child go crazy and make sure to get pictures as they trash enjoy their very own mini-cake.

.PDF Pattern for #1 Cake

Creating a #1 Cake

1. Bake cake in either two 8″x8″ cake pans, two 9″x9″ pans, or one 9″x13″ cake pan. I used the Modified Betty Crocker Mix (White Cake) and the Butteriest Buttercream Frosting tinted with Wilton’s gel food coloring.
2. Cut cake apart according to the dimensions shown in the #1 Cake Patterns. I use a shish kabob skewer to mark the cake for cutting. The skewer is long, flat, straight, and when pressed lightly into the cake leaves a slight impression perfect as a cutting guideline. When making a two layer cake, I stack the cakes and cut both at once (later taking them apart to add the middle frosting).
3. Decorate the #1 as desired. Decorate the 4″x4″ cake and the additional pieces as individual servings. For the pictured purple cake, I used sugar decorations that I made myself.

#1 Cake Pan

Now, if you prefer to avoid cutting up your own cake, check out the Number One Cake Pan from Wilton.

Cake decorated with children's cereal.

More Decorating Ideas

• Decorate a #1 cake with plain buttercream frosting and brightly colored children’s cereal (I used Fruit Loops and Trix).

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